G̱eistéen Daanax̱.ils’eiḵ Chuck Miller started dancing when he was only three years old. He and Yeidikook’áa Dionne Brady-Howard were the youngest students admitted to the Sitka Native Education Program, which usually only took older children.
“They always liked to tease us and say that after that, they didn’t try taking three year olds again for a while,” Brady-Howard said, smiling.
Brady-Howard said Miller was a natural dancer, and he was often invited to go with the older dancers when they traveled. He was elected president of the G̱ájaa Héen dancers in high school, and he went on to start the Naa Kahidi dance troupe.
For Miller, who passed away last month in Sitka, dance was only one part of a life dedicated to learning and sharing his culture. He was a prolific storyteller and educator, and he served as the caretaker for the only active clan house in Sitka.
Jerrick Hope-Lang grew up alongside Miller in Sitka. He remembered reconnecting after years out of state.
“The first thing that I noticed with Chuck was that he asked me to say my Lingít name, and he wanted to learn it and use it,” Hope-Lang said.
Hope-Lang said he had spent a lot of his adult life pushing away his Indigenous identity. Miller helped him realize that he didn’t need to.
“When talking about being a Native man, he said, ‘why would I want to be anything else?'” Hope-Lang said. “And that’s really stuck with me. Like, why would I want to be anything else?”
Brady-Howard said that growing up, she often teased Miller about being an Elder because he was two weeks older. But as an adult, she said Miller did take on a role similar to that of an Elder.
“Even though by age, he wasn’t really an Elder, he was definitely an important culture-bearer in our community,” she said.
She said cultural knowledge was lost during decades of forced assimilation, and Miller wanted to piece together the fragments. He listened to tapes of Elders telling stories, went to ceremonies around Southeast Alaska, and learned clan and family histories.
“I don’t know how many people who have gotten information from him about their own family history, clan histories, Lingít names, and just knowledge of that nature,” Brady-Howard said. “And he was never greedy with what he knew. He was always willing to share it. Because I think there comes a point when, if you are going to be the bearer of that much knowledge, with that comes the realization that you have a responsibility to make sure that knowledge doesn’t just end with you.”
One way Miller shared that knowledge was by teaching dance through the Sitka Native Education Program. In a 2014 interview, Miller told KCAW that dance helped him to connect with his ancestors.
“When I dance, it feels like my ancestors are running through my veins,” he said. “When you put your robe on, it’s like you’re putting on your teachers. You’re putting on your ancestors. You feel them on you. You’re embracing them. It’s like you’re walking into a warm hug.”
And he said he wanted to absorb as much cultural knowledge from elders as he could.
“Now, more and more of them are leaving, it’s like, whoa, whoa, whoa, it’s like an encyclopedia is getting burned right in front of us and it’s the last copy,” he said.
Both Brady-Howard and Hope-Lang said that the prospect of continuing Miller’s work is daunting – but they’re finding a way forward. Brady-Howard said she hopes the community steps up to learn the practices Miller worked to share, from beadwork to dance.
“My hope, in trying to conceive of a Sheet’ká without Daanax̱.ils’eiḵ, is that other people who are concerned about that very real void in our Native community will step up and take responsibility to try to learn the things that he knew in his honor,” she said.
Hope-Lang remembered a conversation with Miller in early July.
“He reassured us that he’s not going anywhere,” Hope-Lang said. “You know, he is all over. His mark is all over this town.”
Miller had been in treatment for cancer in Seattle. He flew home on July 11 and was greeted by hundreds of community members at the Sitka airport.
Miller passed away on July 14, 2024 in Sitka and was laid in state in the Kayaash ka hít clan house. He was 51.
